Identity theft and data breach are significant concerns for many customers, particularly those who use credit cards regularly and those who engage in online transactions. Customers need confidence that their card accounts will not be fraudulently used without their permission, but often lack direct control over exactly how and when their card accounts may be used. For example, a customer may know that he or she will never travel to a particular foreign country and therefore want his or her card to be restricted from use in that country, but lack the capability to do so. Conversely, a customer may have upcoming plans to travel to a specific foreign country and need to only authorize use of his or her card for that limited period of time. Customers may also want to allow or prohibit transactions involving specific merchants. For example, a customer may have a moral or ethical objection to patronizing certain businesses. A customer may also know that he or she will never spend a large sum of money at a particular merchant such that transactions over that limit would ideally be rejected. There may exist many other situations as well where a customer might want to limit transactions in particular geographic regions and merchant locations but lack the capability to do so.
These and other drawbacks exist with current systems.